Teaching Tenten to Tango
by Sandataba
Summary: The first time Tenten meets Kakashi, they dance.


**Teaching Tenten to Tango**

A/N: Fluffy and slightly AU I guess, since tango doesn't exist in Naruto-verse. And Kakashi is out of character.

Disclaimer: Kishimoto is the creator of Naruto and all its characters.

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She was tired, and her head felt funny.

Neji was such a traitor, leaving her to the green beasts of Konoha like that, not even trying to help on her first solo mission. Not that it was really going to be a solo mission, her team mates would be there but she was the one who was going to be in the spotlight for once, providing the distraction at the party they were going to crash, drawing attention while they flitted behind the scenes. And, of all the distractions Gai could think of, it had to be dancing.

"Like a wushu demonstration?" Tenten had asked eagerly. "Or a knife-juggling sequence? Or a--"

"Tango!" Gai had smiled and the ensuing silence was caused in equal parts by shock and by temporary blindness at the sparkle of his teeth. They hadn't gotten used to it yet, but Lee was catching on quickly and had nearly perfected his idol's technique.

"Hmp." Neji Hyuuga was an aristocratic boy who Tenten greatly admired from the moment she met him, but he was always so dour, "I'm going to train for my part of the mission." And with that he left. Leaving her to the mercy, or lack thereof, of the leotarded duo.

Many sharp cries of pain later, dawn had given way to mid-morning and Tenten was exhausted and ready to die. Lee had not taken off his weights and every misstep was a serious physical injury to his partner. Seemingly oblivious, Gai had cheerfully boomed out the syncopated music due to his lack of foresight to bring a speaker for the music player, and Tenten could tell she would hear his "TeeeeeNeN...tenen....teneneNEN!- left! Right!" in her nightmares later.

Finally, Gai deemed she had mastered the basics (and her bones would break if she had to bear one more stomp from Lee's weighted feet), and scared her off the training grounds with the music player for some self-practice and loudly spoken words of praise and encouragement, as he and Lee began their own insane training.

_Taijutsu practice was nothing compared to this_, Tenten thought as she limped slowly down the street. At some point, she had to sit by the curb and unfasten her sandals with a groan. To her dismay, she felt a prickling behind her eyes as she regarded her bloodied toes, which were beginning to swell. The hospital was still a long ways off.

She was so tired. And her head felt funny because Gai had insisted the tango was meant to be danced with one's hair flowing down. Tenten had never danced the tango before today, but she vaguely seemed to recall the pictures she had seen showed the women wearing their hair in buns similar to her own. Oh well.

Hair made good tear-wipers, she discovered, as she used a few loose tresses to scrub at her face.

"Hey, what's a cute girl like you doing crying on the side of the street?" a voice asked kindly.

Tenten stiffened and brushed her hair back hurriedly, "Who's crying?" she demanded, looking up with heat at the person who had stopped to talk to her.

She saw a shock of white-gray hair, a lopsided Konoha forehead protector tied so that it covered one eye, and a dark mask covering the lower half of the man's face. The one visible eye was scrunched up in a manner that meant he was smiling underneath the mask at her. Her anger filtered away a bit as she registered his jounin outfit and general aura of non-aggression.

"I was just resting," she had to ensure no shinobi would see her as weak, though.

"Oh? What's a cute girl like you resting on the side of the street for, then?" he rephrased and Tenten blushed at the repeated compliment.

"Sore feet," she wiggled her toes in demonstration and bit back a wince, smiling bravely like it was no big deal that her feet were squashed into gravy, "Thank you for your concern, but I'll be fine in a while."

Kakashi hadn't seen injuries like that since Team 7's carpentry mission where Naruto had gotten a little too enthusiastic with a hammer. And he had at least had the benefit of fast healing.

The jounin 'tsked' and took a seat beside her on the curb, "May I see?" Tenten stared at him for a long moment, then moved a tentative foot toward him. Perhaps having only one eye made it harder for him to see? He easily took the injured appendage in his hands and placed it on his lap as she tried not to combust from mortification.

Some strange man was touching her foot! Tenten was about to stammer her excuses to get the hell out of there when she saw his hand glow green as he placed it on her skin. She felt a tingling and some added pain, but she had been to hospitals often enough to recognize a healing technique that was mending her flesh and skin back together.

"Are you a medic nin?" she asked in amazement. She was actually a lot more familiar with hospitals than most genin her age, due to being on a team where taijutsu reigned supreme and her team mates' idea of fun was a little extra training right after training. And don't forget the rather violent missions Gai always seemed to pick. Even the non-violent ones, like the one she was practicing for, always turned out to have at least one of them requiring serious medical attention.

"I'm a lot of things," the man's non-responsive answer tipped her off that he was a true shinobi, an expert at avoiding interrogation.

"Well, thanks." She relaxed, deciding to enjoy the treatment. He gave her another smile and she was very glad for the lack of shining white teeth, as she was sure that much sparkle could not be good for her perfect eyesight.

"No problem. You should go easy on whatever training it is you're doing though," he patted her now-healed foot and gestured for her to raise the other one.

"Go easy," she mulled while laying her other mangled foot on his lap, "No, not a phrase my sensei is familiar with," she shook her head, then sighed irritably as the motion caused her hair to tickle her shoulders. Fishing somewhere for a senbon, she reached up behind her with one hand and spun the needle quickly to form and fasten a single bun out of her long locks.

The man watched her mildly, then seemed to recognize her as she fixed her hair, "Ah. Gai's student, right?"

She nodded, "You know him?" He gave an elaborate shrug that said, 'Who doesn't?'

Tenten knew it was disrespectful, but she giggled. "He's a very strong shinobi," she hastened to cover up laughing at her teacher.

"No doubt."

"And his dedication to his profession is unparalleled," she looked sideways not because it was a lie but because she was horrified that Gai's way of speaking appeared to be rubbing off on her.

"Indeed," a few more moments of silence, then the man grazed his fingers across the tops of her toes to check her nerve endings, which made her wiggle them again reflexively, to his amusement. "All done."

"He can't teach tango to save his life though," Tenten burst out against her will, then looked wide-eyed at her healer, "I mean, that's how I got those wounds," she babbled. "I've got a mission later and I have to dance and it will be terrible and instead of Lee some stranger will maul my feet and I have to smile while that's going on--" she clenched her fists, trying to get a grip.

"Sorry," she shook her head ruefully, and was glad the senbon held, "I didn't mean to pour my troubles on you. You've been so nice to me already."

"Not at all," he watched her put her sandals back on while she avoided looking at him. This was incredibly embarrassing for her.

"Tango, you say?"

She paused, and turned to him. "Yes." Didn't he believe her? Granted, Gai-sensei dreamed up the weirdest kinds of training, but he was always thorough in making them put their best effort in everything they did. It was just unfortunate that this time he seemed to have set a goal that he could not accomplish, because the man could not dance to save his life.

"So you're going to fail your mission. Is that okay with you?"

"No!" Tenten fumed at the word 'fail'. It was a banned word, a taboo in their circle to say such a thing. Of course, she always told Lee he would never beat Neji, but that was a fact. But failing a mission, it hadn't happened yet and she wasn't about to start now.

"What are you going to do about it then?" He seemed curious in that slight, nothing-better-to-do way she sometimes saw Neji affect, except the masked man pulled it off with more finesse.

"I..." Tenten knit her brows together, studying his features furiously, wondering what it was about this person that made her think he could be of more help. "I will ask you a question, mister."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Do YOU know how to tango?" she didn't know why she was blushing, but it just meant she was not yet Lee, who was embarrassed by nothing, "You said you were a lot of things. So, can you teach tango too?"

He looked thoughtful.

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Tenten watched with her large eyes as he listened to the music coming from the tiny wireless earphones shared between them. He was very tall, so her left hand was on his bicep instead of around his shoulder like she had done with Lee. Her right he held in his left hand.

He drew her toward him gently, and she thought she might get a crick from trying to look up at his face, which was concealed anyway, so she settled for looking at his collarbone. He hardly had any scent, like a good ninja, aside from that faint but not unpleasant smell of clean sweat. His breathing was a lot calmer than Lee's and she was glad he did not look inclined to yell "yosh" at any point during the dance.

Their first step was a mistake, he started with his right instead of the left, but he merely chuckled and they started again. Slowly, they moved, and Tenten instinctively adjusted herself to align with his hips, making allowances for their height difference. He seemed to know what he was doing, so she began to listen to the music as well, and the moves actually made sense when it wasn't Gai-sensei singing acapella. The steps repeated and Tenten thought this was all right, he was holding her civilly, if maybe a little gingerly, as if she might break. He hadn't stepped on any toes yet, so she would get through this.

She snuck a glance up at him and was about to catch his eye to give a grateful smile, when suddenly he spun her into a turn that she hadn't expected, and she was off balance again. Tense, she came back to him, wondering how she hadn't anticipated that when they were practically glued to the hip, so she snuggled closer and he tucked her to him accomodatingly, pressed fully but lightly against each other.

The steps repeated again, and as his fingers pressed slightly against her upper waist so she was ready for the twirl this time, she began to understand how dancing could be both deliberate and free.

Finally she sensed the approval that had seemed inadequate when Gai was doling it out, from this stranger who wasn't even saying anything. It was just his quiet relaxing into the movements as he realized she was an adept follower and a few variations to the steps no longer fazed her. Their eyes closed and they moved for as long as the music played.

He ended the dance with a playful dip which she flowed into with natural grace, then they both straightened to put some distance between them. He nodded at her, and she, in mission-practice mode, met his eye with the bare hint of a smile.

"I won't fail my next mission. That's a promise." She told him. "Thank you."

"A pleasure." He unhooked the earpiece and returned it to her, looking as relaxed as when she had first met him. "Do well, Tenten."

As she watched him walk off with a casual wave, she thought it was a good thing she'd danced with a Konoha ninja first. If she found a dance partner like that during the mission, she might have fallen in love with him.

It could be the romantic in her, but she felt that she didn't want to learn the strange jounin's name just yet.

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"Kakashi-sensei, you're late!" a shrill duo of pre-pubescent voices shouted at the easygoing Copy-Nin. Beneath a tree, the third genin of Team 7 merely "Tch'd," in exasparation.

"Sorry guys. I ran into this cute girl, so of course I danced with her."

"LIAR!"

End.


End file.
